Life is unfair
by Violentsnuggles
Summary: Post season finale My take on if Simmons wasn't able to go with Fitz and he was taken to a medical facility rather than the Playground with the rest of the team. Rating might change, but most likely stay there.
1. Chapter 1

Jemma Simmons had been trying to hide her misery since escaping out of the pod. Sure there were plenty of tasks to complete at the Playground. And that kept her from thinking about what happened down_ there. _And so far no one bothered her about it except for Coulson, and he had kept his lips shut.

But alone in the silence of her lab, every once in a while her mind would wander. And thoughts such as, _why did the lab on the playground seem bigger than the one back in Providence?_ Or, _it seems unusually quiet down here_, would briefly invade her thoughts.

It was worse when she tried to sleep, so she had only taken to sleeping when she felt sure that she was going to pass out from exhaustion immediately. _The less dreams and thoughts, the better_. Was the rationale, and it worked.

But she had already figured out the reason why her brain made her feel like the lab was bigger, but it didn't help anyone to dwell in the past, or specifically_, internalize or externalize that reason to anyone_.

So she instead ignored the reason altogether and continued to work as she did for the past three days since she was able to escape. Working or studying was her way of compartmentalizing and being able to focus on one thing at a time and ignore the rest.

In the end it was Skye who tried to bring it up as innocently as she could, and inevitably forced that reason to the top of her mind_, _rather than letting it bury itself way down in the crevices of her memory.

Skye and Triplett had kept her company often, but neither would speak, hoping that it would be Jemma that opened up, or better yet, show any other emotion than a blank slate. Fake happiness, anger, sadness, anything would have helped them have a peace of mind that she felt something.

Skye had reasoned that three days was more than enough, and it was weird seeing Jemma not smile or talk, _talking to yourself really doesn't count_, she thought. Entering the room as loudly as she could to not spook the doctor that looked like she was mixing chemicals around, she began, "So, you never really went into detail about what went down there. Or why Fitz isn't here with us. And Coulson won't say a thing about Fitz right now."

Jemma paused and bit the inside of her cheek and began formulating a response in her head.

"He saved my life down there, we helped each other brainstorm with a way to get out, but I hadn't thought about the rest... And there was only one source of oxygen in the entire pod." She paused and frowned as the memories came flooding back to her. "He gave it to me." She paused again, debating whether she should tell Skye the reason why _he_ decided that she should get the oxygen.

Skye looked on, her face hopeful that just rambling about it would allow Simmons to finally let out her emotions that she kept under lock and key for the past few days. But with Simmon's back turned against her, she couldn't get a read on her.

"And I couldn't just leave him there, so I dragged him up with me. There was no way I'd leave him down there." _That was enough information_, she thought grimly. The fact that he had confessed to her would remain a secret between herself,_ him, _and Coulson.

There was a tense silence as Skye waited for Simmons to continue, and she was about to say that it was ok, before Simmons continued, "You know, if Fitz didn't wire up the beacon, than we'd have both died with no supplies in the middle of the ocean. That or decompression sickness would have done the job. Fitz was the real hero." She took off her goggles and wiped the newly forming tears off with her sleeve, "He was always the hero."

Skye moved to turn Simmons around to hug her, when Simmons suddenly broke down. Simmon's mind began to focus on him the moment she had finally said his name, and her mind began rapidly filling with new questions and thoughts about the probability that if he didn't wake up soon, the more harmful the damage could be, or how long it would last, or if it would become permanent. Fitz wouldn't be Fitz if he didn't have his mental capacities, and that made her cry even harder.

The doctors had told her the chances were very hopeful since it was only a few minutes that his brain went without oxygen. But the chances of brain damage grew each day. She had already known that, but to hear it again made it more real somehow.

She felt guilty that she still didn't understand her feelings towards Fitz, she felt angry that Ward escaped relatively unscathed, she felt angry that Fitz didn't allow her the time to think of another solution. She felt angry that the doctors wouldn't allow her to help monitor Fitz, she felt angry that Coulson allowed them to take him away, she felt angry at Fury for telling her that her place was with the team, helping them _bring down HYDRA and to rebuild SHIELD_.

But none of that really mattered to her. If she were completely honest to herself, she knew at the bottom of her heart she really had no reason to be here. The only real reason that she had left was in an unknown location and she had no idea how he was doing.

_Life is unfair. _She thought before succumbing to the tiredness that ached her heart and body.

* * *

AN: I don't own Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. so please don't sue me.

Also, if you wanted to get a little insight onto how I thought about this. I thought to myself that if someone were able to get two Ph.D.'s within 5-6 years, they must be able to focus really well and minimize outside distractions. A great way to ignore what's happened and to continue to work... until it catches up with you and can't ignore it.

Also, even though Simmons is a doctor. She's not a medical doctor or surgeon of any kind, at least what I've been able to research. Just a research and lab doctor. Completely different fields and jobs. I.E. just because someone has a degree in psychology (neuroscience or cognitive sciences) doesn't mean they're a shrink, in fact, they may be terrible shrinks. So honestly, she wouldn't really be able to help Fitz recover, and would be more of a hindrance to the doctors trying to help him. At least that's how it felt to me.

And I think in Fitz's condition, he'd need to be under constant monitoring by trained professionals who have dealt with situations like these. So that's why, in my head, he's not with Simmons in the playground.

This is also my first time writing, so it may need a lot of revisions to look really smooth. In my head this was less jumbled, and when I wrote out my notes, it made a lot of sense to me. So please help me become a writer by having constructive criticism. It'd be really helpful for me.


	2. Chapter 2

He woke suddenly, alone in a bright room and immediately shielded his eyes. _Strange room._ He thought to himself before propping himself off of his bed.

The last thing he really remembered was… and he drew a blank. He couldn't remember, but it didn't seem that important, his mind was trying to relax, and trying to remember that forgotten memory hurt his head more than it helped. So he dropped it completely, he'd have to ask someone around about what happened to him.

_Better yet, ask Simmons!_ And then he paused to think where she could be since she was nowhere to be found. Last he remembered, without a headache, they got caught by Ward, and Garrett wanted them both to work for Hydra.

And because there were no current guards around him, it seemed that he must've been rescued. _Probably just got knocked out…again, that's like the second time in the month. _He chuckled to himself, thinking that he probably should've picked up more hand to hand combat skills. _But a hit that hard to cause short-term amnesia must've been pretty serious. _

He looked around for any signs that this might be a hospital, but everything seemed normal. In fact, it didn't remind him of a hospital at all.

Walking to the door, he tested it quickly and found that it was unlocked. But what was outside was a long hallway that stretched impossibly long.

"SIMMONS!" he paused and looked around, hoping for a response.

"SKYE! COULSON! MAY! TRIP! SIMMONS!" He repeated over and over until his throat felt raw. But still no response, there were plenty of doors, but there wasn't even a sound that acknowledged him. No loud, annoyed voices telling him to shut up, or anybody investigating the noise, it was just emptiness around him.

He involuntary shivered a bit before he walked across to the room parallel to his. He knocked quietly before testing the handle. It was locked.

_Well this has gone from weird to creepy in a second flat._ His instincts were telling him to find someone, hopefully Simmons, but anyone would do.

This feeling of being trapped and lost made his back prickle with fear.

He walked briskly to each door trying each of their handles, but the results were always the same. Locked, and no response inside.

_This is getting ridiculous_. He started to panic until he finally spotted what seemed to be an exit and lost all pretenses of checking each one of the doors before bolting for the exit.

He nearly made it when he heard a door that he ran past open up, and turned around to see who had opened their door.

All of the nervousness and fear left his body in a second, and calmness replaced it almost immediately.

"SIMMONS!" He screamed joyfully and ran towards her.

"Fitz, keep it down." But it lacked any conviction or bite, but she smiled at him and he felt as if everything had just come together for him.

"Do you know where we are?"

Simmons paused and looked around, "Honestly, I have no clue either. I woke up and there was nobody there. And this definitely does not look like a hospital. And I'm quite sure that if this was a SHIELD facility or a hospital, that we would either see our team or doctors…

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing, and honestly I just want to get out of here."

They both nodded at the same time and began to make their way to the door.

When they finally got to the door, Fitz couldn't help but look down at their intertwined hands. _Must've happened instinctively_, he couldn't remember who had reached out, but really the only thing that mattered was that Simmons was nearby after all.

* * *

"It seems as if the version of the Extremis that was reversed engineered by Stark and Banner is working at a faster rate than we believed."

"There has been a lot of increased brain activity in just the past thirty minutes. I would say he should be up in a matter of no time at this rate."

"Then I think we should apply the antiserum now. We don't know if he'll be stable with Extremis, the virus doesn't only repair, it enhances everything."

"But we don't know if the brain has been completely healed yet. Fury stated that he needed this man to be able to keep his intelligence."

"Well, we either wait until it's too late and his body might reject the Extremis and we lose him altogether. Or we can just play it safe, he's out of the deep coma now, and he'll wake up naturally in a few days without the Extremis."

"Or his body might accept the sample and he'll be fine. Then he'll be back to 100%. Hell, he might gain better cognitive skills. And he'll be awake within the next day."

"At the risk of increased aggression or death? This simply isn't the answer."

"Well you're the boss in the end. It's your choice, and we better make it quickly because once the small sample of the virus keeps replicating, we'll be out of time regardless of what choice you want to make."

The two doctors looked at each other before looking at the comatose patient.

"Apply the antiserum."

* * *

AN: Same as before about owning Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

So, I've never been in a coma, and I've only just read up on this. But apparently you don't dream while in either an induced or deep coma. But I thought that with Extremis, even though my knowledge on that is VERY limited. It does repair rapidly, and if tissues in your brain were being repaired, maybe you would have dreams? I don't know, I took a lot of liberty with this.

And in his dream phase, the first thing that he'd want to keep, or his mind would prioritize would be Simmons. Then perhaps his mom.

But anyways, thanks for the reviews and PM that I received. It helped a lot more than you guys think.

I don't know how long this will be, but it will probably be pretty short, my little story progression of notes is getting smaller.


	3. Chapter 3

It was a strange day for one Jemma Simmons.

She usually got up at six, but she woke up at eleven. Though, if she admitted to herself, she was more tired than usual yesterday. She usually was in the lab by eight, but apparently she was banned from the lab for the day, well more like after the meltdown in the lab, Coulson ordered her to relax.

_Though I don't think he meant for me to be cooking._ Simmons thought to herself as she busied herself in the kitchen. She just finished making Trip's favorite sandwich, a white bean and mozzarella sandwich with one white chicken breast, Skye's favorite sandwich, a panino with ciabatta, provolone, ham, and olive tapenade, extra crispy. And finally a third sandwich that she had subconsciously made, a prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella sandwich with a hint of pesto aioli.

Well, it was still a delicious sandwich, _waste not, want not, _and grabbed plates for everyone. She laid a few carrot and celery sticks on Trip's plate, a healthy dose of the salt and vinegar chips for Skye, and finally sea salt chips for herself.

Taking Skye's and Trip's plate, she made her way to the lounge room. They had the TV on, but they were concentrated on a game of scrabble.

"Fancy a sandwich?" Offering each their respective plates, she smiled as they thanked her and left to get her own sandwich when Trip spoke up.

"You didn't have to Jemma. You should be relaxing."

He was cut off by Jemma sighing, "Well doing something that doesn't really require that much thinking is relaxing to me." Having said that, she hurried off to grab her own sandwich before anyone else could speak up.

Trip looked at Skye, "It's not healthy for her to continue on this one track mindset. Or else she'll suffer another meltdown before we know it."

"We don't know that, maybe that's her way of relaxing." Skye took a moment to look at the sandwich and took a bite out of it.

"I'm not only talking about relaxing, I'm talking about what happened with Fitz. I know he ended up in a bad situation, but there has to be more than that." Trip looked at Skye eating and shook his head.

"Why do you say that? I asked her about it, and you know she's a terrible liar, if she had lied to me about anything. I'm pretty sure I'd have caught it." She swallowed and looked back at Trip, "If you want me to interrogate her some more, then I'll do it."

"Listen Skye, I liked and probably still like Jemma. She's someone way out of my league, with or without SHIELD, she'll go far in her life. A person with beauty and brains is hard to find, and it was easy as hell for me to spot that Fitz holds a torch for Jemma." Trip picked up his plate and stood to exit the room before adding, "If Fitz knew that he was sacrificing his life, I'd bet everything I own that he told her his feelings. Just so that he'd have no regrets going through with saving her."

Skye nodded in agreement and took another bite out the sandwich before noticing that Trip had already exited with his food. Sighing inwardly, _might as well prod a bit more I suppose._ Taking a few more bites of the sandwich she smiled. _This sandwich is just delicious. I have to see what else Simmons would recommend for food. Definitely my favorite sandwich._

Simmons entered the room with her plate and looked around confusedly. "Where's Antoine?"

Skye looked up, "Said that without Fitz there was no handyman to make repairs on the Bus." Pausing to take another bite, and with a mouth full of food, "He said it was a delicious sandwich and practically inhaled it in three bites."

Simmons smiled, "Well I guess I can add chef extraordinaire to my resume." She placed her plate on the table and sat down.

Skye smiled back, "You know, I can always get your credentials back... If you wanted to ever go back to the normal life."

Skye paused to look at Simmons, who looked as if she was seriously contemplating the prospect of leaving SHIELD. Before Simmons nervously laughed, "Well I don't think I cou.."

"Stop Simmons. You're a terrible liar. Do you want to stay here? I mean, I understand how you feel. Partner in crime is gone. And the entire world is hunting you on top of a secret organization."

"I do want to stay and help. But, it just feels different without him."

"You mean Fitz." Skye looked determinedly at Simmons.

She involuntarily flinched before nodding, "Yes… without Fitz."

There was a long silence before Skye decided to take a gamble, "Did Fitz say anything to you… like about how he was madly in love with you?"

"Wha…what that idea is absolutely prepos…"

Skye cut her off a second time, "Oh my god. I'm so sorry." Her sandwich forgotten completely, she stood up and put a hand on Simmon's arm. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Simmons looked up at Skye and opened her mouth only to close and open it repeatedly. She shook her head, trying to figure out the next few words.

_What to say. What to say._ Simmons finally started, "You know when I first met Fitz. He was an awkward little thing. Skinny and didn't like to talk. Also very sarcastic and very defensive about anything he did. On top of all that, I just wasn't looking for any type of relationship. And neither was he… I think." She paused to take in another breath, "That's why we worked so well together. We just wanted to study and prove ourselves to the world."

She went on, "And honestly, he had a bad taste in clothing and a horrendous haircut. I helped him become more social, found a better wardrobe for him, and a decent haircut. It felt as if I was helping a brother, and so I equated any feelings towards him as brotherly."

Skye just nodded as Simmons continued, "It was only after I saw him date other women, that I started to realize that maybe it wasn't brotherly love, and maybe I saw that he might've fancied me. It didn't matter in the end because we both silently understood that we didn't want to destroy what we both had with _feelings_. God knows how many good partnerships were destroyed by breakups."

"Well what do you feel for him exactly then?" Skye finally questioned as she sat back down.

"Do I find him attractive? Sure. In his own certain way, but it's not like how I found Antoine attractive." She pushed away her plate, it looked like her hunger completely left her after all. _I guess we're going to have to deal with this sooner or later._

Skye huffed, "Of course, Trip is like sculpted out of marble. Trip loves working out and only eats healthy. He'd probably work out in his sleep if it were possible. And Fitz, well, Fitz seems to have a good metabolism at least, and he's adorable."

"Well what's wrong with wanting to be with someone other than Fitz anyway? It's just like when we were at academy. Everyone thought we were together. It's why every relationship we had failed in the end. No one could quite believe that we weren't snogging everywhere." Simmons rested her head on the table.

"Nothing's wrong with that. It's just that you haven't said if you like him or not. You just said that he was attractive." Skye said pointedly.

Simmons visibly tensed up, and whispered, "I haven't decided on that yet either. Maybe I did. Maybe I didn't. It doesn't matter now. He's not even here. And even if he does wake up, hypoxia can lead to altered personalities, short or long term memory loss, and in some cases lead to permanent loss."

"Well, keep your head up Simmons, you never know. And when he does show up, you might want to have an answer for him. Regardless or not if he remembers confessing to you. I think he's liked you long before you realized that he might like you." Skye picked up her sandwich and took another bite, "You know, I never knew I had a favorite sandwich until I ate this. You should recommend me more food to eat. It'll probably become my next favorite whatever."

Simmons lifted her head and shared a smile with Skye, "Of course, Fitz always said I could pick out what people liked without them ever knowing they liked it."

"You should eat Simmons. Wouldn't want you to faint while mixing something, or forgetting to put on your safety goggles on because of hunger. You know, Carol never wore her safety goggles… Now she doesn't need them." There was a small silence, followed by laughter as they both laughed at the corniness before Simmons pulled the plate toward her and started to eat, all semblances of the serious conversation gone.

* * *

A/N: Don't own Marvel or Agents.

I took some ideas from notapepper's story Oh To Be Young, which is probably one of the best origin stories on here about Fitz and Simmons. I really just liked the idea that Simmons influenced Fitz to improve himself. Socially (at least tried), clothes, haircut, and finding a new favorite sandwich.

Beyond that, I always saw Simmons as a bit of a mother hen as well. A bit overbearing, but loves to help around.

Also, those sandwiches are just random ones that I pulled, but they sure looked delicious haha.

Reviews are always helpful. I wrote this tired and my mind probably added a few words. I read this probably 5 times over, but at this point, my brain is kinda mush.


	4. Chapter 4

Quick A/N (bigger one below): Don't own the show. If I did, this would be canon.

Anyways the first scene is just two unnamed doctors who really aren't going to get names unless someone wants me to name them, they aren't important at all. But if you have suggestions, feel free. I am terrible with names. Probably would've named them Dr. Bob and Dr. Steve. Anyways, enjoy!

* * *

"He's stabilized for now. The MRI results show that the tissues in his brain seem to be healthy and normal."

"And the Extremis?"

"It should be gone from his system, if his arm is any indication. Had we kept the Extremis in his body just a bit longer, it most likely would've healed his arm."

"But it may have started the process of the complete infusion of the Extremis and the brain. It doesn't just heal the body, it changes the nervous system by accessing the recovery center of the brain. The virus doesn't just magically heal, it forces the body to change genes. We only took the gamble because we knew there was brain damage, and repairing the brain is more complicated than repairing the body."

"So is that the reason why the effect of the Extremis didn't take place as fast as we thought?"

"At least in the recovered footage of the tests, it was within five to ten minutes after the patient was healed with the Extremis, for it to show that it was not compatible with the patient. That's why we were closely monitoring his brain, the moment we saw activity, it would be safe to say that the Extremis was done with the brain and ready to see if his body would accept it."

"Well regardless, the patient should be awake any moment now. His heart rate and brain activity show that he's now in deep sleep. Our job is done."

"We still have to see if there have been any changes, we may have eliminated the Extremis from his body, but Ms. Potts still suffered some after effects of having been in contact with it."

* * *

Fitz opened his eyes slowly to the incessant beeping of a heart monitor.

He took a look at his surroundings and tried to get up. But his body felt too lethargic to actually move. He tried to say something, but his voice was hoarse from no use. He shook his head to shake the sudden tiredness that he felt when he saw a man in a white coat enter his room.

"How are you feeling?"

"M'fine."He slurred, eyes trying to focus on the man. "Wh're 'm I?"

"One of the last SHIELD medical facilities in the states. But you are by far the most serious case we've had in awhile. You should rest some more, you've just recovered from a coma that was caused by Hypoxia."

_Hypoxia?_ Fitz racked his brain before asking the doctor, "what d'ya mean?"

"Loss of oxygen in the brain combined with a bit of decompression sickness led to a deep coma. Now rest, I'll fill you in once you're fully able to understand what I'm about to say next."

Fitz nodded in agreement and closed his eyes, _rest for now, and then get to the bottom of this_.

* * *

He woke up feeling refreshed a few hours later. At least it seemed to him to be a few hours. _No bloody clock in the room_. But he was awake now, and feeling a lot better about it.

Now was the time to gather his thoughts about what happened. He vaguely remembered his dream, but to be quite honest with himself, it was still pretty hazy. But it didn't matter, focusing on the dream was the last thing he needed to think about. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he blinked a couple of times before it hit him, _where the bloody hell is the team? _

Looking around for some sort of device to notify anyone that he was awake, he began to remember what the doctor had said. _Loss of oxygen to the brain and decompression sickness. _He repeated that like a mantra until his gut felt like it was hit with a sledgehammer. _THE POD. Grant, that git, dumped us into the middle of the ocean. He could've killed Jemma. Almost killed me too. _He added as an afterthought.

He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. Before his mind jumped again, _where's Jemma? _He may not have expected the team to have visited, being busy and all with stopping Hydra, but there was no sign that he received any visitors at all.

His cheeks started to redden as he remembered the last words he said to Jemma. But that possibly couldn't have kept her away… right?

_Am I in the same place as the team? Did Jemma tell Coulson about what I said, and then he had us separated? Where was the bloody doctor__?_ Thousands of questions flooded his head and there was no one there to answer them.

His musings were cut short when the _bloody doctor_ finally opened the door to his room with a tired look on his face. _About damn time. _

"How are you feeling Leopold?" The doctor looked down at his clipboard and made a few notations.

"Just peachy." Fitz stared at the clipboard and then to the doctor. "One question though, where is my team? If this helps, Agent Coulson was the leader on my team."

"They're in an undisclosed location that didn't have the necessary facilities to treat you. Now I have to ask a few questions, so please bear with me." The doctor flipped a page on his clipboard, "What is the last thing you remember?"

"Being betrayed by a friend who almost killed me and my partner." He shook his head, he'd have to smack some sense into Ward the next he saw him.

"Do you feel the need to destroy anything or harm anyone?"

Fitz looked up and laughed, "Excuse me?"

"Do you feel the need to destroy anything or harm anyone?" The doctor repeated with a serious tone.

"No, absolutely not." Fitz answered, not sure if he should laugh at the absurdity of the question now that the doctor looked like he was serious about it. "Should I be?" He joked back, but the doctor just stared at him before continuing.

Fitz smile morphed into a frown and looked on concernedly as the doctor ignored his question and barraged him with more strange and seemingly irrelevant questions. He was about to question the legitimacy of the doctor and his practice before he was asked about how well he could perform mental tasks and other cognitive functions.

But those questions were very few, and in the end to Fitz, everything seemed to be completely normal. And it seemed as if the doctor agreed.

"Very well, Leopold. As is with any patient waking up from a coma from an extended period of time. We'll need to start rehabilitating your muscles. But since you were only out for a week, the rehabilitation should only take a few days. Granted you'll feel more tired after doing more strenuous activities, but you'll feel as if nothing ever happened to you." The doctor smiled and organized his clipboard. "Except for that arm of course. But if you need anything, flip this switch and someone will be by to help you."

The doctor turned to leave before Fitz questioned him.

"Wait a moment now, what kind of brain damage did I receive? I feel completely normal. I was thinking about what you said, and if it was so serious that I needed to be in some type of medical facility, how come there's nothing wrong with me? I mean even though it was a short coma, shouldn't there be some type of mental wall that I'm trying to overcome here?"

The doctor paused to look at Fitz, internally debating how much of the truth he should be given before replying in a measured voice, "We were given orders by both the former and current director of SHIELD to keep your mental abilities intact. But given the extent of your injuries, drastic measures had to be taken in order for that goal to be accomplished."

Fitz looked on with trepidation as the doctor continued, "We gave you an experimental drug, that had a high probability that you would be able to regain your intelligence and memory, but at the cost of heightened aggression and other things. Now, we're not 100% positive that we're out of the woods. So during your rehabilitation, if anything feels off for you, please don't keep it a secret. Early treatment is always effective treatment."

"One last question, if I may. How long was I out?"

"You were in a deep coma for three days. We administered the drug and within 30 minutes, you exited the deep coma and we put you into a medically induced coma for four days. Then when we were 100% positive that your brain had healed completely, we pulled you out of the coma and your body went into a deep sleep for approximately eight hours. And after you woke up, you then went back to sleep for another four hours."

"So almost 8 days?"

"Today would be the eighth day." Came the tired reply of the doctor.

"And the time?"

"Currently 3:30 AM, we can start your rehab today. Is that all?"

"Yeah… thanks." Fitz nodded and stared at the wall, trying to think of what he could do for the next few hours before he could finally start making any progress of getting out of here and rejoining the team.

However, after a few minutes of thinking he was freshly awake, his eyes started to droop, and before he knew it, was back to sleep and dreaming of better times with a certain scientist.

* * *

A/N: So, I went with no super Fitz. Just because I think my imagination isn't that good to have a Fitz with the ability to breathe fire, have super speed and strength, and be able to make his body so hot that it melts steel. (Also hyper regeneration)

Also I work in the world of finance. I literally took an intro to Bio course at my uni and that's the extent of my "medical" knowledge. And I'm not at all interested in medical shows/dramas, so that beginning part was a lot of hooplah that I thought would make sense. Writers make up stuff on shows all the time anyway. And that's as believeable as I could make it.

Anyways, Fitz and Simmons soon to be reunited. Woooooooo.


	5. Chapter 5

Phil Coulson wasn't blind to the rumors floating around Fitz and Simmons. He knew about the anti-fraternization rule in place for teams, and for the most part, understood why it was there.

The theory was that if one agent died, the other agent would then perform below standards. Likewise, if the agents split, even if they were completely professional about it, it would still affect the work environment as well as their performance.

Did he want to separate them? Of course not, they were the best team of scientists SHIELD had produced in a long time.

Did he want to test Simmons to see if she could function without Fitz? Yes, but the answer was much more complex than just a yes or no answer. If she could retain her professionalism and continue to work well, then he could possibly overlook the fact that his two scientists were going to get together at some point in time.

After all, the whole point of the anti-fraternization rule was so that the two agents involved wouldn't be compromised if something happened to the other (also a small part of his mind told him that if they did get together, they would never leave each other, so the other reason of the anti-fraternization rule didn't apply). Plus, being the director gave him some more perks.

Did he feel guilty about keeping Fitz's progress from Simmons? The answer was simple, of course he did, he did have a heart. And deep down inside, he had begun to care more about this team than any other team he had been on. But it was a necessary evil in order to evaluate Simmons.

Regardless of his feelings, he was the only one kept up to date on Fitz. He had even given the ok to use the Extremis on him when there wasn't any progress.

He looked at the monitor that was directed at the lab, and was pleased that Simmons had worked as well as she had in the past two weeks. She had found improvements for the dendrotoxin, QNB-T16, and invented a new material called biofoam, which was able to seal off wounds.

It was proof enough that she could carry on without Fitz. Granted her happy disposition on life had faltered the last two weeks, but she had worked effectively and was still as productive with or without Fitz, save that one hiccup when she broke down.

He took one last look at the report stating that if either scientist were to be separated or injured/killed, they would suffer in productivity. And in some extreme cases, be unable to function for a long period of time. He looked at the folder full of reports one last time before he deleted it from SHIELD's database.

Maybe she had carried on so well because she had hope that Fitz was ok, and not dead or seriously injured. Whatever the reason she had, she was in for a surprise in a few moments. Maybe the joy of seeing Fitz again would lessen the blow that was surely coming his way for keeping this a secret from Simmons and the entire team.

* * *

Jemma was busy in the lab pouring over her new samples of the biofoam when she heard the doors slide open.

"We just got some unexpected visitors." Triplett looked at Simmons, "Seems to be other SHIELD agents. Don't know if you want to see them or not. Just thought you'd like to know."

There was a brief silence before he caught Simmons slight nod, "I'm fine." She said briskly, not even turning around to acknowledge him.

It wasn't that Simmons wanted to be cold around Triplett or Skye. But lately, they had been annoying her every day about opening up. And quite honestly, she was fine, just a little frustrated. _I'm not a porcelain doll guys! _Was what she wanted to scream out.

But it was the culmination of all her problems with the situation revolving around Fitz, Skye and Antoine's insistence that she open up, the fact that she had no one to bounce ideas off of, or nothing that could facilitiate her newest invention, that led her to be a bit more agitated and stressed than usual. Though if she thought about it, all of the problems could've been solved by one person... _Fitz. __If he were here, all of these issues would just disappear. _She thought wistfully.

Triplett stared at her back for a quick second before turning to leave, just to bump into Skye.

"Woah there dude." Skye dodged out of his way and went straight for Simmons.

"D.C. said that he wants the entire team to be at the loading bay." She stated pointedly at Simmons before adding, "That includes you."

She heard Simmons sigh softly, "Fine." Simmons carefully put both samples back in the freezer before taking off her gloves and then goggles. "Well then. Lead the way."

The walk to the loading bay was followed with silence and concerned glances to Simmons by both agents.

Coulson turned around and smiled at the entering agents.

"They should be here any moment… May?"

May studied the radar for a few seconds before nodding and opening the gate.

The roar of rotors filled the room with sound as a helicopter started to descend toward the loading bay.

Simmons just watched on as the helicopter landed and shut off its rotors.

* * *

"5 minutes until we arrive at the playground." Agent Hartley announced to the cabin.

"So you were a part of the Director's team before SHIELD went to shit?" Lance Hunter asked Fitz.

"Yep, still can't believe Coulson is the new director." Fitz looked outside the window and only saw snow. "Fury must've really liked building hidden snow bases."

"Turn off the stealth generator. I think we're close enough now." Agent Bakshi said as he got up from his seat and looked out towards the cockpit and pointed towards the frozen lake. "If intel is correct, the landing dock should be right there."

Hartley nodded and steered toward the lake.

"Holy shit that's a big base. SHIELD has a much bigger budget than STRIKE if this is a 'small, hidden base'." Hunter remarked with air quotes as he stared at the ice opening up.

He looked over to Fitz who looked like he was almost bouncing off of his seat. "You ok there Fitz? I don't know what's shaking more, the vibration coming off of my seat or your fidgety ass."

Fitz smiled at the ribbing, "It's just that I haven't seen my partner in a long time. I think the longest we ever stayed apart was a week. This pretty much doubles the record." _A good lie carries an element of truth was the old saying. _

"You mean Simmons?" Hunter replied back as the chopper began to hover above the loading bay.

"Who else could he be talking about? All he can talk about is this Simmons." Agent Bakshi commented as he shared a laugh with Hunter.

"Look at his face. It's as red as a tomato. Don't worry Fitz, we'll not make a move on the sweet, little lass of yours." Hunter looked at Bakshi for confirmation.

Bakshi just nodded and buckled in as the helicopter made its descent to the base.

They jerked forward from the semi-rough landing, and in that instant, Fitz felt both excitement and trepidation entering his body in new highs.

"Sorry about that guys. Still need to learn how to land with these new stealth choppers." Hartley said apologetically as she flipped the switch for the doors.

A blast of cold air hit the occupants in the cabin.

Hunter was the first one out, followed by Agent Bakshi, leaving Fitz by himself in the cabin of the chopper. He paused as he heard Hartley leave the chopper, and then began to unbuckle himself with his newly shaking hands. He counted to ten a few times before he finally steadied himself, _now or never. _He stepped out into the cold and looked around.

"FITZ?!"

His attention snapped to the person who had screamed and smiled at the sight.

* * *

Simmons just stared blankly at their new teammates. From the looks of it, though she shouldn't be one to judge, all of them seemed to be specialists. It made her feel a bit better that no one was going to replace Fitz anytime soon.

She quickly nodded to her new teammates and turned to leave when she heard Skye gasp and then scream, "FITZ?!"

She whipped her head around so quickly that everyone in the loading bay thought she had suffered whiplash.

* * *

A/N: So Coulson ships FitzSimmons. And who doesn't. Jemma is also being more and more grumpy - I was debating whether or not to add that Simmons was being constantly harassed by both Skye and Tripp about opening up more. Friends care about each other, and I know I'd be quite annoying to get to the bottom of the issue. But I did add it in the end. Hopefully this is still a smooth story.

Also, the new agents are also the new cast members joining the show. Though it was ambigious if Bakshi was working with HYDRA or SHIELD. And Hunter I think works with STRIKE (UK version of SHIELD according to the wiki). And Hartley (Lucy Lawless) is going to be a good addition to the team.

Just a bit more left and then this will be done. This took a lot more planning than I thought for such a small idea. But finally they reunite!

I made two ninja edits because I suck at proof reading. Sorry if that affected you guys in any way.


	6. Chapter 6

_Well today didn't go as I had expected. _Fitz laid his head back on his bunk and began recounting what exactly happened earlier that day.

Everything seemed fine. He looked at Skye who had the biggest grin on her face and even saw a smile from May. Trip and Coulson looked happy as well. The only thing that made it different from what he had hoped for was that Simmons just stood in the back with a smile. He had thought that she would probably run up to him, maybe hug him a bit, say a few words of how she had missed him (and he'd reply that he had missed her terribly).

But she just stood there as Skye went up and gave him a bone crushing hug. _Stronger than she looks._ He looked down at his cast and remembered Skye fussing over him. Something he had expected Simmons to do. But it was still nice to be fussed over once in a while.

Even after everyone had greeted each other, he had tried to talk to Simmons. But all she had in reply was that she was _glad he was alright_ and other tight-lipped responses. He wanted to talk to her in private, but never got the chance to get her by herself.

And in fact it seemed as if she was trying to avoid a one on one conversation. His mind reeled at the thought. _Maybe that was her response to **that** whole pod incident._

_Well that would be depressing. I mean, I have misinterpreted a lot of signals from her before._ _I guess I should clear it up for my own sake sometime or another. __And hopefully sooner than later. _He looked at the time, 10:00 PM.

_Well as they say, tomorrow is a new day._ He closed his eyes and willed sleep to come.

* * *

Jemma Simmons had never been so shocked in her life. There had only been a few times in her life that she had been genuinely shocked, when her parents admitted that she knew more than them (and not the, she knew more than them when they were her age, but as in when they were 35 and she was 10), when she finally found a person as young as she was and almost as brilliant, and finally the sudden realization that maybe she couldn't function without Fitz.

The moment she had laid eyes on him, all of the stress and problems that were piling up had just disappeared. It felt like an out of body experience for her. _I guess that's what they mean about being on cloud nine_. The only drawback was that she hadn't been able to think straight the entire day.

She looked at the clock. 10 PM, where had all the time gone? And she didn't feel a bit tired, seeing Fitz and knowing that he was ok, made her feel energized. She opened her eyes, there was no way she could force sleep to come,_ so might as well make the most of this newly found energy. _

She got up and headed for the lab, being careful not to wake any of the new occupants of the base.

* * *

Fitz opened his eyes and looked over at the clock, 11:35 PM. _Well, new record of just laying still and doing nothing. _The anxiety of not knowing where he stood with Simmons was literally keeping him awake.

Well if he couldn't sleep, _might as well check out the lab. _He reasoned that everyone should be asleep, including Simmons. So, now would be a good time to explore and get a better look at what he was going to be working with.

He stepped outside and traced his steps back to where Koenig had showed the newcomers the lab and was pleasantly surprised to see that the light was already on.

_Well, only one person on the base besides me that could possibly be in here. _He turned around and took two steps before pausing. He knew Jemma well enough that if he asked, he'd get an answer, either by confirming the truth or seeing right through her terrible lying habits. _Might as well._ He thought determinedly.

He turned around and slid open the door and was immediately greeted by a gasp.

"Sorry did I spook ya?" He tried smiling at her, but his heart rebelled against that action, so he just settled with looking at what she was doing instead of looking at her.

"A little. It's been awhile since someone else was also in the lab late at night." Simmons smiled at him and followed his eyes to the material on the table. "Oh. I forgot to tell you! This is something I just created, it seals wounds and the foam acts like a biological bandaid that can seal broken blood vessels or arteries. With this, bullet wounds are a thing of the past."

"What happens if the bullet is stuck in them?" Fitz looked at Simmon's smiling face and couldn't help but smile back.

"Oh. I hadn't thought of that. Maybe if the foam could detect foreign metals in the body and eject it out via the open wound." Simmons began jotting down the notes furiously.

"Or maybe it can disintegrate the foreign metals? It'd be pretty painful if during the ejection of the metal it didn't have enough pressure to exit the wound and instead led somewhere else." Fitz walked next to Simmons until they were shoulder to shoulder to look at her new notes.

"Brilliant idea Fitz." She had missed this. She took a brief glance at Fitz studying the material and suddenly noticed how close they were. Her cheeks began to rebel against her mind that was desperately trying to tell her body to remain calm. Apparently her face decided otherwise.

Fitz oblivious to the rising discomfort of his partner remarked, "How would you inject this? And what container are you using to hold this?"

"Haven't got that far yet." She replied meekly.

As if suddenly noticing how close they were, or how she responded, Fitz looked up at Simmons before hastily backing away from her. "Sorry." He muttered under his breath.

Simmons scrunched her face, "Why are you apologizing?" She stepped forward and noticed Fitz stiffen before stopping herself. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Was the immediate reply, before he began again, "Actually, how are you fairing?"

"Honestly, Skye and Antoine have been grating on my nerves for the past two weeks." She sighed exasperatedly.

"What have they been saying?" said Fitz who was genuinely curious as to what was bothering her.

"Nothing of importance. Just… small things." She swore inwardly, she was terrible at lying.

Fitz hid his smile with a cough as he heard Simmons voice go four octaves higher than usual.

"Well, was it about what happened down _there_?" He studied her face for any cues.

She shook her head furiously before realizing who she was trying to lie to, _resistance is futile I suppose_, "Yes."

"Was it about what I said?" He looked at her just nod once. The silence was a good enough answer for him.

"I mean it you know… you're more than that. Even if you only see me as a friend, I just needed you to know that." He turned to leave and only made it a few steps to the door before he was enveloped in a hug. Shock and then relief filled his body with warmness he couldn't quite describe.

"You never let me say anything after your confessions." She said into his back. "I do love you, and rest assured Leo, I know for a fact that without you, life wouldn't be the same." She paused for a second and let Fitz turn around in her embrace before continuing. "Nor as entertaining or meaningful without you by my side."

He wrapped his arms around her and sighed contently, "Well I was worked up for no reason."

"To be fair, I should be the one apologizing." She smiled into his neck.

"No argument there." He scoffed out.

She just laughed in response and got out of his embrace to grab his hand. She paused and stared at his hands determinedly, knowing that if she looked into his eyes, she wouldn't be able to say this next part.

"Want to try sleeping together?" She was blushing terribly, and if anyone saw her face now, it would probably have been as red as a tomato.

He sputtered, "Wha'?"

Her head darted up as he sputtered. "Not _that_ type of sleeping." She paused to look at him concernedly, "You don't have a problem with that do you?"

"Absolutely not." He replied before Simmons all but dragged him back to her room. A smile adorning both of their faces.

* * *

A/N: I don't own Agents of SHIELD.

So this was an interesting chapter for me because I had the option to stretch this out a bit longer, but really it'd be unnecessary drama. And Fitz and Simmons are kinda a no nonsense type couple in my head. Both are pretty straight forward with their expectations of each other.

Also, I wanted to expand on the misinterpretation of Simmon's actions during the Fitz's welcome back. But I couldn't really word it without making Simmons seem like a jerk. And she's not a jerk. She was just suffering a huge brain fart because of an unexpected appearance. Kinda like how people freeze up when they see a celeb and get star struck but 10x more "struck". So that's why her explanation during meeting him up again was pretty short. I planned for it to be longer, but oh well.

But yeah, a lot of fluff in this chapter and I tried my hardest for them to make it seem like their interactions when they created or improved something. Hope you guys enjoyed this and epilogue is coming up.


End file.
